Hope

By Emily Lyons, CTSI Case Manager

As one of the family coaches here at Community LINC I get the privilege of walking beside our residents on their journey. Often, their paths are littered with obstacles that take time and perseverance to overcome. Because of such, one of my most important tasks as a family coach is to instill hope in our residents. Hope – something that we all need but often lack in a time of trial. It's hoping for a bigger and brighter tomorrow that is often hard for our residents to see when the hurdles seem overwhelming and unconquerable. For me, Community LINC is a community filled with hope.

Just look around our campus. Walk around the playground after evening program – you will hear sweet giggles from our residents’ children. Visit our wellness groups, and you will see residents sharing snacks while learning new life skills. Listen in on a one on one meeting with a resident – you will hear positive dialog, encouragement, and hope. Hope for our residents, hope for better days, and hope for the future where homelessness is a thing of the past – that’s what Community LINC is all about.  

Children’s Matters: Not Throwing Away Your Dreams

By Jamie Lyon KCYA artist and Community LINC Volunteer

My name is Jaime Lyon, and I am a freelance visual art teacher that celebrates the creative process while emphasizing and encouraging self-esteem, self-awareness, and confidence. I’m fortunate enough to be a teaching artist at Kansas City Young Audiences. KCYA has partnered with Community LINC where I currently teach a residency art class. These monthly classes include a variety of projects ranging from self-portraits, masks, journals to handcrafted shields and vision boards.

One of my recent vision board classes was broken up into two sessions. Our first evening included flipping through magazines in hopes of finding images that captured the student's dreams and goals. These pictures ranged from fancy cars to simple cartons of milk. Not every student was finding the perfect photos so I had them tell me specific dreams I could find online and I promised them I would print photos to bring for our second session. I loved learning the dreams of these hopeful and amazing kids aged 9-17. Some dreams included nice homes, sports cars, high school diplomas, college degrees, friendships, happy family members, careers, candy, pets and so much more. As I wrote down their dreams and images to research, we talked about the importance of a dream and how we have to set goals to achieve our dreams. We talked about hard work, resiliency and accountability.

Our second session was very productive. The students gathered all of their images and glued them to a poster board. Some had twenty items to glue some had three. We celebrated their individual creations while continuing our conversations of gratitude, worthiness, and achievements. I found myself drawn to a 17-year-old girl who had worked intently and quietly on her vision board. She laid out her pictures and wrote captions under every item. She had big dreams! She wanted to finish high school and graduate with honors and then go to college and become a very successful business woman. She would then have a beautiful home with a huge pool and guest house. She wanted happy friends in her life and a healthy family. She also wanted to maintain a good relationship with her Mom. She said her Mom was very important to her and she always wanted her in her life.

As we wrapped the class this gentle soul told me to just keep her vision board; she said she didn’t want it! It broke my heart. This sweet child had spent two full hours visualizing, dreaming, setting goals and making plans! She was so close to believing her dreams could come true. But just like that, she was willing to throw it all away… LITERALLY. She didn’t want this vision board, which represented a VERY BRIGHT FUTURE. Her shoulders and head sank as she began to walk away. I stopped her from leaving and pleaded with her to PLEASE reconsider. “Please take this vision board home and display it proudly. See your dreams every day. Share these dreams with your Mom. She’ll want to see your future!”

With slight reluctance, she kept the vision board.” I was relieved as she left with it in her hands!  After the students had been gone and the room was clear I hoped this lesson would help these amazing kids realize their potential. As I was leaving, I saw the young lady who almost threw her art away speaking with her Mom. She was showing her the very masterpiece she had almost let go. Her Mom, who had clearly been at work all day, was wiping the tears from her face. Her mom was so emotional and so very proud of her. I introduced myself and told her about our lesson and how amazing I thought her daughter was. The tears kept flowing as she complimented her daughter for her creation and me for the lesson. They embraced as they continued to review the vision board. Her mom was excited to see a bright future for her daughter. She even joked that she would love to live in her daughter’s guest house. It was a very moving moment. I think the student was glad she didn’t throw her vision board away. Her mom insisted they hang it up in the living room where they could both enjoy visualizing their future! That is Inflated JOY! Wow, I love what I get to do! Who will you encourage today?

Thank You Community LINC

Shared by a current Community LINC program participant

My name is Lachelle* and I have two children. For several years I was in a domestic violence situation that had control over my life. I reached out to different agencies to help me get re-established, and I became domestic violence free. Over the years I had moved around a lot and was in debt. We lost our place of residence, and I did not know where to turn, so I went to a local homeless shelter with my two children. I felt ashamed, embarrassed and lost. The homeless shelter sent me to Community LINC, and once my kids and I moved into the Community LINC program, our lives began to change for the better. The Community LINC staff and supporters helped my family learn how to move forward with our lives. My youngest child made new friends that had the same experiences that he did. The new friendships have helped my son feel he has peers who he can talk openly with about his experiences. The program also helped him with coping tools to deal with homelessness and an understanding of how to manage a world of uncertainty. I, too, was given several supports in the way of budgeting classes and healthy lifestyle group topics that were helpful for me. I also participated in individual therapy sessions that helped me find myself, tap into my strengths and identify the barriers that were getting in the way of my progress. While I was learning about my barriers, I also learned how to overcome them, as well as how to support my children as we journeyed to a more stable life. I will forever be grateful for this program. God has blessed this program and blessed us to be able to be a part of it. Since we have been at Community LINC, I have gained a full-time job, found permanent housing for my family, returned to church, and I now connected to helpful resources in the community. I would like to say “thank you” to the Community LINC staff for believing in us and giving us this opportunity to get our lives back on track. 

*Name have been changed to protect the identity of the program participant

Perfect World

By Holly Gardner, Intake Specialist

In a perfect world, I get an empty manila folder handed to me with only a family’s name and contact info. After checking a few details, I arrange an appointment for screening; upon acceptance into the program, I estimate a ready date; and then I provide a move-in date and time to the new family.  Again, this world is perfect, so the apartment is clean, decorated by volunteers and ready just when the family needs it.

On their move-in day, the family is given a walk-through of their apartment and a hug or two. The family and I both get emotional when I hand them the key. They accept it, and we both know this relationship - this program - will impact their life journey in a very positive way. But again, this is a perfect world. 

Moving to the real world: We recently screened and accepted a family into our program. The manila folder was on the corner of my desk next to my “to do” list.  In just a few short days the family went from strangers to the newest family preparing to move in.  The young mom was nine months pregnant and had three other youngsters.  Her situation at the shelter and other community resources were waning, and her stress levels were increasing. She left me a soft, sad message on my answering machine hoping to move up her move-in date.

I let our team know we needed to do all we could to speed up the process. Everyone pitched in, from maintenance to cleaning to decorating. As they do so often, things just fell into place.  Our maintenance team was in the middle of some pretty extensive projects, and I did get a grimace or two, but they assured me that yes they could do it for this mom and her family.  Everything was touched, improved upon, updated and personalized. I was able to call her back and let her know that what we thought would take us three days we were able to accomplish in a day.  Her apartment was ready for her and her children.  In a perfect world maybe this family would not ever need us, or maybe her barriers could be overcome without the rigors of a program but we all know perfection is hard to find.  In this instance, for this family, we got very, very close.  

China Is My Home

By Cais Monroe, Facilitator

“I want you to draw whatever you think of when you hear the word home."  Mr. Joshua, Community LINC's Children's Program Manager, was explaining an activity that I would never forget, "it can be your room, your state, your old home, your family... whatever that is I want you to draw it." Then he further explained his personal idea of home, “I moved around a lot when I was younger, so where ever my family is, it became home for me.”  Some children drew houses, others drew their bedrooms, and participating staff drew pictures of their homes and maps of the states where they lived. One person even drew an outline of California and the beaches there back in her home city, however, there were two particular children whose pictures sank deep into my mind.

Out of respect for their privacy, I won't mention their names I'll refer to them as K and J. Both boys full of so much character and personality; characters so very different but a walk of life with similar obstacles. I asked K, what he was drawing, so neatly and creatively, coloring away so care-free, no shame in his perspective of "home.” "It’s the hotel,” he said still coloring without ever looking up. Bringing back my oppressed memory of when my family lived briefly in an American Inn Motel I thought it would be the appropriate moment to share our stories. K told me about how much fun it was residing in the hotel, riding in the hotel elevators every morning and having his family so close to each other in one room. I shared with him that "we had two queen size beds in our room and my brother and I would jump from bed to bed trying not to touch the ground of imaginary lava.” K finally looked up, and we laughed.

J, who is six years old and incredibly smart and does a hilarious hillbilly impersonation (sorry, that's what he calls it), well he drew a picture of China. Completely puzzled and dying to know his thoughts, I asked him more about his drawing. He told me, "I'm going to live in China one day and it's going to be my home."  He named some historical figures from China and asked me if I knew any. Totally embarrassed that I didn't know any of these great legends but thoroughly impressed at the same time, I was blown away by his knowledge of a land that seems so far away from us. J was a young man focused on his future, not held back or confined to a definition of home, with an understanding that he could go where ever he wanted in life, even China.

These children understand that their circumstances do not define them and if they are ever doubtful, we are here to remind them. They have an unusual perspective on life that we as adults could adopt from time to time. But this is why Community LINC, is so important. The reality is there isn't always (if ever) an opportunity to have these type of conversations at school. At Community LINC these activities present so many opportunities to for us to share our stories with one another, be able to relate to each other and encourage our children that these situations aren't ever –lasting. I must say that they help us as well with their resilient ways of thinking which give us the chance to build on that foundation.

The Positive Impact of Social Connections for Parents

Submitted by Griselda Williams, Mental Wellness Manager

Recently, I wrote a blog about our relationship with the Children’s Trust Fund (CTF), Missouri’s Foundation for Child Abuse Prevention. CTF awarded Community LINC a grant to fund mental wellness services for children and youth from ages 6-17. Mental wellness services are provided by our Child Therapist and can include individual therapy and socialization and coping skills group.  While children and youth receive services, we also provide support services to parents based on the CTF model. Several of our staff participated in a conference and on-line training supported by the CTF with a focus on “Building Protective Factors to Strengthen Families." Topics shared throughout the training included the following protective factors:

• Concrete support for parents in times of need
• Parent Resilience
• Social Connections
• Social and Emotional Competence
• Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development

Recently, in our parents’ Healthy Lifestyles group, I observed the impact that Social Connections can have for our parents. Clare Hollander, of the Kansas City Public Library, spoke to our parents on Children’s Literacy and provided books for the children.  Clare discussed the importance of exposing children of all ages to books. I observed the reactions and listened to the input of several of the program participants.  Initially, Anita seemed a bit hesitant to take books for her children. She also shared that, due to her work schedule, she had little time to read to her young children. As another parent, Dena shared how she exposes her 2-year-old son to words and books; Anita asked how she could start reading to her children. The more Dena shared the benefits of exposing her son to books, the more Anita began to see how she could include reading to her children in their bedtime routine. As Dena shared that her son had a library card and how he enjoys going to the library, Anita began to discuss taking her children to the public library. Dena also shared that more parents need to be involved in their children’s schools and Anita then asked how to do this. Dena shared how she stays connected to her son’s school, and by the end of the group meeting, Anita asked Clare Hollander for books for her children. It was evident to me that Social Connections with other parents provided a great support and influence for Anita, more than my words as the group facilitator and our guest librarian could provide.  

Remember To Take Nothing for Granted!

By Alicia Horton, Mobile Assessment Case Manager

Each and every day most of us experience stability. We have a place to stay, food to eat and a car to drive. We have these luxuries as part of our normal daily routine.

Now picture your life without just one of the three, let alone all three at once.

The thought is SCARY to say the least; right?

Well, these are just a few of the daily struggles of the families we meet at Community LINC. It’s extremely sad and disheartening.

One of the things I enjoy most about being here at Community LINC is, right from the very start we try and meet family’s right where they are!

For example, if they’re struggling to get from place to place, we can provide on the spot intake screenings. This limits the number of times a family has to travel for services while in crisis. We can connect families with local food pantries, health care providers and other community-related services to help a family in need.  It’s truly a beautiful thing!

Seeing the daily struggles of these families in crisis makes me truly grateful for the people (family, friends and co-workers) in my life.

Community LINC is truly the most rewarding and humbling job I’ve had.  I make myself remember to take nothing for granted.